Brighton Rock

Brighton Rock Optimum Releasing

We went to a preview of a new adaptation of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock during the week, courtesy of Le Cool Dublin. The original film, considered by some as the finest British film ever made, was released in 1947, directed by John Boulting and with a screenplay by Greene and Terrence Rattigan. Richard Attenborough played the lead character "Pinkie". This adaptation is widely regarded as one of the most successful British films noir.

This latest remake is written and directed by Rowan Joffe (The American, 28 Weeks Later, The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall). Pinkie, teenage sociopath and up-and-coming gangster, is played compellingly by Sam Riley, who I mentioned in an earlier post. Other cast members include Helen Mirren, Andy Serkis, John Hurt and an assured performance by relative newcomer Andrea Riseborough in the part of the naive young waitress Rose.

The setting for the novel is the cold and dismal Brighton of 1938, permeated with rain and squalor and cruelty. Joffe's interpretation has brought the story into 1964, against the backdrop of the youth riots and the debate over the end of the death penalty. How much this updating adds to the story is debatable, although in '64 as in '38, we see shifting morals at play in a changing society and a nihilisitic, greedy young man trying to claw his way to power. What it had in abundance is a visual style that an adapation of the bleak late thirties of Greene's telling may have lacked.

Thanks to Le Cool Dublin for another opportunity to see a good film for free and before it's official release.


http://dublin.lecool.com